When the Mail published stories of ‘despotic’ GP receptionists playing with patients’ lives last week, we were deluged with responses from those who do the job. Many said they were the real victims of aggression, claiming they were put under huge strain by loutish, ‘entitled’ and selfish patients, not to mention the doctors who expect them to manage their clinics efficiently, despite their lack of medical training. Here are their stories…
I’VE BEEN SWORN AT AND THREATENED
Elizabeth West, 53, has been a receptionist at a practice near Hereford for 24 years. She is married to Alan, a 55-year-old teacher, and has two children.
Obstructive and arrogant. Unhelpful, useless, stupid and ugly. Fat, a bitch and evil. Patients — male and female, young and old — have hurled all of these hurtful and abusive names at me. I’ve even been threatened with violence and sworn at in the street while off-duty.
When the Mail published stories of ‘despotic’ GP receptionists playing with patients’ lives last week, we were deluged with responses from those who do the job. Here are their stories…
Perhaps doctors’ receptionists would have less of a reputation for being rude if the patients weren’t so aggressive themselves. Easily 75 per cent turn nasty when they don’t get what they want.
Yet if I stand up for myself — as I sometimes do — they write a letter of complaint in which they somehow neglect to include their own bad conduct.
Ask yourself these questions: Would your bank let you walk straight into the manager’s office without an appointment, and would you interrupt your feared boss’s meeting because I shouted at you to do so?
Of course not. Yet patients expect this to happen at a doctor’s surgery. Suppose we honoured every patient’s request for ‘two minutes’ to nip in and see the doctor without an appointment? It would be impossible.
And don’t get me started on prescriptions — it’s the single biggest cause of patient dissatisfaction after the scarcity of appointments. Patients know there’s a two-day turnaround time, yet still come to the desk demanding medication on the spot, then get angry when we say no.
Let me assure you, you’d become the ‘despots’ you so despise if you were in our shoes.
IT WAS TERRIFYING – I’D HAD NO MEDICAL TRAINING
Stacey Chappell, 26, is a full-time mother of two from Shrewsbury. She was a GP’s receptionist for four years before having children.
I winced when I read the recent story about GPs’ receptionists. Having worked behind the reception of a surgery for four years, I know that the so-called ‘despots’ do exist.
Indeed, the receptionists at my own doctor’s surgery seem to go out of their way to be abrupt and unhelpful. If ever I’m concerned that a family member is very ill, I’d always go to AE rather than ring the surgery and be faced with an unqualified receptionist telling me whether we could see a doctor.
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When I joined, I assumed I’d be given basic medical training. But instead, I was told to use my ‘common sense’ and if it sounded serious — such as a problem with breathing or chest pains — then I should tell them to go AE instead.
But I hated having that responsibility — the thought I could be responsible for someone’s life was terrifying. How was I to know if a child’s spots were heat rash or meningitis?
So I’d ask the doctors themselves if the patient should see a GP. It may have been time-consuming but I’d have never forgiven myself if something had happened.
But other colleagues were not nearly so cautious. I overheard one tell a 19-year-old who’d just discovered a lump in her breast ‘it’s probably just a cyst’, giving her an appointment in three weeks’ time. I was horrified. If that had been cancer, the three weeks could have made all the difference.
Of course, it’s not all one-sided. There are many good receptionists, but they’re under so much pressure that they may come across as abrupt.
One of the nicest parts of my job was chatting to some of the elderly patients. But then I would be reprimanded by my manager for spending too much time talking and not enough time doing paperwork.
I couldn’t wait to get out and wouldn’t dream of going back.
MANY QUIT AFTER JUST TWO WEEKS
JOAN CLOUGH, 61, has been a receptionist for 11 years. She lives in Surrey with her husband, Roy, a retired technical officer, and has two children.
The job’s so stressful I’ve known many receptionists quit after two weeks — we’re the face of the NHS and that makes us the butt for everyone’s frustrations.
The phones ring non-stop from the moment we open, but we have a maximum of 25 emergency appointments a day. After that, we put the patient through to the doctor, who’ll decide if they need to be seen.
I have to bite my lip sometimes. People ring with a swollen ankle which can obviously wait. But if they insist it’s an emergency, I don’t have the strength to argue.
But it can be rewarding. Recently I took a panicky phone call from a patient. She was at Dover, waiting to board a ferry for her summer holiday in France when her husband realised he’d forgotten his medication.
She was in tears — they’d have to cancel the holiday. I got the doctor to write out a new prescription there and then which we sent electronically to a chemist in Dover.
Within 15 minutes she was picking up a new prescription and happily off on holiday. If only our critics could see that side of us.
‘EVERYONE HATES YOU,’ SHE YELLED
Maureen Dryer, 74, has worked as a GP’s receptionist or practice manager for 30 years. Widowed, the mother-of-three lives in North-West London and has three children.
Patients slamming the phone down on me, swearing or shouting abuse at my colleagues are common. One woman even pointed at me in the middle of the waiting room and yelled: ‘Everyone in this area hates you!’
After 30 years of working as a GP’s receptionist I’ve seen and heard it all. But in that time, I’ve learned the best response is a dignified silence. It’s not worth having an argument.
Maureen Dryer, 74, has worked as a GP’s receptionist or practice manager for 30 years. Widowed, the mother-of-three lives in North-West London and has three children
The pressure on GPs and their staff, particularly over the past decade, has increased considerably. Everyone wants an appointment now, but thanks to the increase in patient numbers, we have fewer appointments to hand out. We simply can’t fit everyone in on the day.
As for being accused of diagnosing patients before they’ve even seen a GP, it’s something I’d never do nowadays.
In one surgery I worked at several years ago, the GP gave us permission to tell anyone who rang up with a cold that they should have some black tea, honey and paracetamol because that’s the advice he would have given.
But it’s too dangerous for receptionists to give out advice now in case we’re sued — so patients have to come in, wasting everyone’s time. Of course, there are good receptionists and bad, but most colleagues have been very sympathetic towards patients, even when faced with serious aggravation.
THEY RING IN WITH A RUNNY NOSE
Sheila Wells, 59, now trains GPs’ receptionists after more than a decade in the job herself. She lives in West Moors, Dorset, with her husband, and they have two children.
The Mail’s article left me horrified and sad — horrified at the way some receptionists apparently spoke to patients, and sad at the lengths ill people have to go to see a doctor. There are never enough appointments to go round.
Receptionists are stuck between a rock and a hard place, often squeezing patients in and risking getting moaned at by the doctors, who could be there 24/7 and still not see everyone.
Sheila Wells, 59, (pictured) now trains GPs’ receptionists after more than a decade in the job herself. She lives in West Moors, Dorset, with her husband, and they have two children
Some patients can also be very demanding, insisting on an ‘urgent’ appointment when there’s little wrong with them, or their child has the first sign of a runny nose, thus leaving no urgent appointments for those that really need them.
There are patients who, despite not being seriously ill, almost have their own seat in the waiting room they’re there so much and others who don’t turn up, wasting valuable slots.
Receptionists can sometimes come over as being a bit harsh or dragon like, and while this is no excuse, they do have a really difficult job to do.
It takes a special kind of person to switch between dealing with a 999 emergency and a patient going through a bereavement.
POLICE CAN REACH US IN MINUTES
Lyn Jones, 57, became a GP’s receptionist 12 years ago and is now a medical secretary at the same practice. She lives in Devon with her husband, a retired banker, and has two daughters.
Being a GP’s receptionist can feel like a frontline soldier: we’re first out of the trenches and first in the firing line.
Sometimes it’s tough to keep your cool — I’ve hung up on patients for swearing at me before. I don’t blame them entirely. It’s hard to be calm and rational when you’re in pain or worried about a loved one.
But we have no immediate appointments to give out. When a patient rings, we put them on a list for a ring back from the doctor who’ll then decide whether they need to be seen.
It’s very efficient but many patients don’t get it. We’re not medically trained and it’s not our job to make clinical decisions, however, we need to ask for brief symptoms to pass on to the doctor. Some patients get really cross and accuse us of being nosey.
We have a panic button at the front desk — press it and police can be with us in minutes. It’s a last resort and mercifully it’s rare. But thanks to the behaviour I’ve witnessed, I feel much safer having it there.
THE TRUTH IS WE DO WANT TO HELP
Carole McGovern, 50, has been a GP receptionist for 14 years. She lives in Portsmouth with her site manager husband, Anthony, 54, and has two children.
People seem to think receptionists are like snarling Rottweilers — guarding our precious doctors from patients. The truth is we really want to help. Why else do a job that pays just over £8 an hour?
Carole McGovern, 50, has been a GP receptionist for 14 years. She lives in Portsmouth with her site manager husband, Anthony, 54, and has two children
If a patient’s been in an accident, I’ll suggest they go to hospital immediately. For minor problems — like ear ache or piles — I suggest the minor ailment scheme run by the pharmacist where they can get a prescription without seeing the doctor. I’m not denying them an appointment — I’m just giving them choices.
But I’m regularly told: ‘You’re only the receptionist. Why do you need to know?’ Patients can shout and swear and I’ve been called a **** several times. That’s when I hang up.
This job is getting harder. Patients expect more — an appointment in two weeks for a non-emergency isn’t good enough. You will get patients ringing up swearing blind that they have an emergency because the verruca they’ve had for six months is playing up. The truth is, they’ve got a day off and wanted treatment.
I feel like saying: ‘Didn’t it occur to you to think ahead?’ Instead I smile and promise to do my best. It’s hugely frustrating when it happens time after time.
Additional reporting Lorraine Fisher and Tessa Cunningham.